Cooking Tools

There is more to cooking than just the recipes. You have to understand the tools you are using also to be a successful cook.

The first is a colander. A colander allows you to separate solids from liquids, such as pasta from water. It is helpful anytime you need to boil something. Make sure it has a study base to avoid getting burned by hot water when straining things. A bigger colander is always better; it makes it easier to pour.

The next is a box grater that has four different surfaces. Each of the different surfaces grates to a different level of coarseness. You can use it to grate almost anything, from vegetables to cheese. (picture above)

Measuring cups are essential to cooking. They allow you to know how much of something you are adding. Without measuring cups it makes following recipes hard to follow. I suggest you have both a Pyrex measuring cup, the glass measuring cups, and individual measuring cups in increments of 1/8, 1/4, ½, and 1 cup.

It is good to have a good set of knives and a sharpening stone. If you use dull knives you are at as much of a risk of injury than if they are sharp, it makes it harder to cut and may cause you to struggle which can potentially result in injury.

An eight-quart stock pot is another important kitchen tool. It is helpful when making stus, soups, and etc. It makes it easier to keep what you want in the pot and reduces the mess you make.

A two-quart sauce pan. This is good for making gravies. It is also important to have another sauce pan; this is helpful when cooking vegetables or pasta.

I suggest a frying pan. They are universal; you can cook so many different things in them, from eggs to chicken. A good frying pan has a sturdy flat bottom. A deep pan can help prevent splattering from occurring.

A cookie sheet is essential. Make sure the cookie sheet you by will fit your oven. I suggest ones that specify non-stick. This allows you to skip the step of greasing the pan. It also prevents sticking and burning from occurring.

There are many other interesting tools out there for cooking, from steamers to electric frying pans. The more you cook, the more you discover the magical tools. I personally want a wok; I heard they are wonderful to cook in. Although you can cook without these other things, it makes cooking easier. If you do not have something, be creative; find a way to get what you want with what you have!


Bridges, Shelia. "A Guide to Basic Cooking Tools." HGTV. 2007. 25 Nov. 2007 http://design.hgtv.com/kitchen/article_detail.aspx?id=67.

Football Snacks

My dad’s alma mater is Boston College and my brother is about to graduate from Virginia Tech, this combination has caused my family to be huge football fans. Our Saturday’s consist of football game on top of football game and what is a football game without the snacks?

This past Saturday I made my famous nachos. First you need to preheat the oven to 350ºF. I take Tostitos Bite Size chips and layer them on the bottom of a glass casserole dish. I than put a layer of medium salsa on top of the chips, you can use any kind of salsa depending on how hot your preference is. After the salsa comes my favorite part, the cheese. I grate a layer of Monterey Jack cheese on top of everything, than I go back over with a layer of Monterey Jack and Jalapeño cheese. I love cheese so I make it extra thick. Than you place the dish in the oven and allow it to cook for fifteen minutes. Once you take it out be sure to allow it to cool off, and enjoy!

It is the perfect dish for any football weekend especially for the Super Bowl!

Mediterranean Diet

I had recently heard something about a “Mediterranean Diet” and how the people living in the countries have a higher life expectancy due to a better diet. After I did some research I found that there was some truth to this.

There is no exact “Mediterranean Diet” because there are many countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, all differing in what they eat but they do have some healthy similarities according to the American Heart Association:

• high consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
• olive oil is an important monounsaturated fat source
• dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten
• eggs are consumed zero to four times a week
• wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts

The Mediterranean-style diets follow closely to our dietary recommendations. “More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from monounsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Monounsaturated fat doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.” (American Heart Association) This means that the risk of heart attack or heart disease is lower resulting in a lower mortality rate.



"Mediterranean Diet." American Heart. 2007. American Heart Association. 12 Nov. 2007. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4644.

Healthy and Easy

This week I decided to go to friends for a recipe. My best friend’s mom had introduced me to an easy to cook meal that is healthy too. I decided to try it on my own. The dish is cabbage and ground beef casserole, but I decided to no make it a casserole and just add rolls as a side.

The first thing you need is an electric frying pan, my new favorite invention. The frying pan is really easy to use and even easier to clean, my least favorite part of cooking. You turn the frying pan on to 300º F and allow it to heat up. You than slice up the head of cabbage into skinny strands about a half-inch wide and seven inches long. You put the cabbage in a bowl and add olive oil, ground pepper, and salt, to your desired taste. That was hard for me to do, being an analytical thinker I like things to be precise but I have come to learn cooking is far from precise. You than mix it all together and place it in the pan and allow it cook. While that is cooking you cut up a red onion into tiny pieces and add it to the pan too. Once the cabbage is soft you take it out and put it in a bowl. You than put ground beef into the skillet to let it cook, I use 93% lean beef but you can also use lean ground turkey which also happens to work with the South Beach Diet. After the meat is brown you put the cabbage and onions back in the pan and allow everything to cook together for about five minutes. It is then ready to eat!

The first time I cooked the beef first, but I learned cabbage takes a lot longer to cook and results in the meat being over cooked and dry. However, if you cook the cabbage first it turns out wonderfully. I was proud of myself this week because I figured it out on my own after only seeing someone cook it once. The recipe is quick, easy, and delicious!

Top Blogger in Cooking

A top blogger in the field of cooking is bfeedme.com. The site has many different recipes and pictures of what the recipes turn out to look like. It is easy to maneuver around the site and to find the perfect recipe. It has a wide variety of recipes fitting every kind of genre. It is also informative in every aspect of cooking. It talks about cook books and common technical difficulties. It covers junk food addicts to Indian food to vegan recipes. The writing style is to the point but does not leave anything out. It informs you without boring you. It also has a lot of different writers which gives the blog a wider range of perspectives and advice. However you do not feel the contradiction, it flows as if it is one single writer. It allows readers to have an active role in the recipes and makes it easy to share experiences. The website is appetizing and grabs your attention.

Chicken & Vegstable Stir Fry

This week I mad a chicken and vegetable stir fry on rice dish. First I pounded the boneless chicken to allow for a faster cooking time. Than I cut away the fat and sliced the chicken into strips. I then stir fried the chicken in House of Tsang’s, Sweet Ginger Sesame Grilled Sauce. I cooked the chicken till it was cooked all the way through, about ten to fifteen minutes on high. I also added slices of red, green, and yellow peppers and slices of onions to the pan. I also cooked rice by following the directions on the on the box. I put the chicken and vegetable stir fry on top of the rice and served. My parents were my guinea pigs this week and took the daring steps to try my concoction. Miraculously they actually liked it, now I am fearful that I will be cooking dinner more often.

I conquered my fear this week and touched raw meat, a fear I have always had. It was not as bad as I thought it was. It is more mind over matter than anything. I was also very careful washing everything thoroughly with hot water, because working with raw meat is dangerous and can cause people to get really sick. Salmonella is a dangerous bacterium on raw meat that when ingested into the body attacks the stomach and the intestine. It can cause a person to become severely ill.

That leads me to this week’s lesson: Salmonella is easy to avoid as long as you are conscious of what you are doing. There are a few basic steps to avoiding salmonella:

1. Always wash your hands with warm water and soap before preparing food.
2. Continuously wash your hands after moving from working with one food to another.
3. Wash your utensils properly with hot soapy water.
4. Use a new dish towel everyday and wash dish towels at no cooler than 60 oC.
5. Always store food in the refrigerator, never leave meat out. If you follow these steps you will not have to worry about salmonella. It helped me overcome my fear of touching raw meat.

I only had one injury this week and that was with the knife. I am still getting used to using the knife to slice things. I missed when slicing the pepper and sliced my thumb. Nothing a band-aid can not fix.


Works Cited
Rutherford, Dr. Dan. "Salmonella and Food Poisoning." NetDoctor. 16 Feb. 2005. 5 Nov. 2007 .